Brazil records trade deficit of US$4bn in January

The Brazilian balance of trade began 2014 with disappointing results, after closing January with a deficit of 4.06 billion dollars. The figures released today by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade are the worst ever for the first month of the year.

According to official data, Brazilian exports for the past month totalled 16.02bn dollars, while imports reached $20.08bn.

The negative results confirm a downward trend in Brazilian foreign trade, which began last year. 2013 ended with a modest surplus of 2.561bn dollars, the lowest in more than a decade and a fall of almost 87 percent compared to the $19.44bn surplus registered in 2012.

The government attributed the erosion of the trade surplus to maintenance works on petroleum platforms, that have reduced Brazilian crude oil production and forced the country to increase fuel imports in order to meet domestic demand.

In spite of the hefty deficit in January, the Central Bank predicted that Brazilian foreign trade would recover across 2014, closing the year with a surplus of 10bn dollars. Independent analysts, meanwhile, set the more modest figure of a 8.25bn dollar surplus.